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the futurist typographic revolution
The printed word was extremely important to Futurism; the
movement's beginningswere based in poetry and literature produced
in magazines, pamphlets and books. Also,the reliance on the large
number of widely circulated manifestos for the dissemination ofthe
polemic doctrines and artistic theories of Futurism almost made it
the product of anadvertising machine.
The Italian millionaire poet, writer and originator of
Futurism,Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, founded the international
magazinePoesia (Poetry ) in 1905. Marinetti was on a personal
crusade toliberate poetry and literature from the constraints of
traditionalpunctuation and syntax and, from the very beginning, he
usedPoesia to launch the idea of verso libero (free verse). In
1909, inhis Founding Manifesto of Futurism , he stated "Up to
now,literature has exalted a pensive immobility, ecstasy, and
sleep.We intend to exalt aggressive action, a feverish insomnia,
theracer's stride, the mortal leap, the punch and the slap." Poesia
ran from 1905 until 1909 by which time the style and layout had
become outmoded. The last issue carried Marinetti's
FuturistPolitical Manifesto . The cover was designed by Alberto
Martiniand each issue was produced with a different cover
colour.
In 1912 Marinetti published his Technical Manifesto of Futurist
Literature in which heurged writers to "banish punctuation, as well
as adjectives, adverbs, and conjunctions."Verso libero gradually
evolved into parole in libert (words-in-freedom) the purpose
ofwhich Marinetti outlined in his manifesto Destruction of Syntax -
Imagination withoutStrings - Words-in-Freedom of 1913.
"I initiate a typographical revolution aimed at the bestial,
nauseating idea of the book ofpassist and D'Annunzian verse, on
Seventeenth Century handmade paper borderedwith helmets, Minervas,
Apollos, elaborate red initials, vegetables, mythological
missal
ribbons, epigraphs, and roman numerals. The book must be the
Futurist expression ofour Futurist thought. My revolution is aimed
at the so-called typographical harmony ofthe page, which is
contrary to the flux and reflux, the leaps and bursts of style that
runthrough the page. On the same page, therefore, we will use three
or four colours of ink,or even twenty different typefaces if
necessary. For example: italics for a series ofsimilar or swift
sensations, boldface for violent onomatopoeias, and so on. With
thistypographical revolution and this multicoloured variety in the
letters I mean to redoublethe expressive force of words."
The mass production and distribution of the manifesto ensured
aninfluence on typography internationally with, for example, the
Russian ElLissitzky quoting Marinetti in his writings on new
typography. Marinetti'sown book, Zang Tumb Tumb (1914) typifies the
style and feeling ofwords-in-freedom and is a milestone in
typographic design. The book isan account of the Turkish Battle of
Adrianopolis of 1912 in which Marinettivolunteered.
Words-in-freedom are used onomatopoeically to graphicallyillustrate
the explosions of weapons and grenades and the noise of battle.
With its dynamic formats and striking use of colour and
typography, Marinetti's words-in-freedom concept was seized upon by
the Futurists resulting in many books in asimilar style while
Francesco Cangiullo's book Caff -Concerto - Alfabeto a sorpresa
http://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book10.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book10.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto08.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/manifestos/manifesto01.htmhttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book10.htm
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(Caf -Chantant - Surprising Alphabet ), of 1916 (printed in
1919) took words-in-freedomto the extreme and used letters of
differing heights, weights and typefaces to form allthe pictures
(click here ).
Since the Futurist movement was born of the machine age, to
theFuturists the design and production of a book was symbolic of
that
age. Modern materials and methods were employed - for
exampleFortunato Depero's famous 1927 Depero Futurista (also known
asThe Nailed Book ) employed two aluminium bolts as a
fasteningmethod.
Even if the method of bookbinding was new and innovative, the
inside of the book wasust as inspired (click here ). Printed on
different colours and weights of paper, the text inwords-in-freedom
style, was a stimulating typographical experience. There was no
rightor wrong way to hold the book and the layout necessitated
turning the book around inorder to read it.
Some five years after Depero's mechanical bookbinding was
produced,Marinetti produced Parole in libert: olfattive, t attili,
termiche (Words-in-
freedom: olfactory, tactile, thermal) in 1932 using metal sheets
forpages in the ultimate mechanical book.
http://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book02.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book02.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book02.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book03.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book03.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book03.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book03.htm#pageshttp://www.futurism.org.uk/books/book02.htm#pages
